


Not All Who Wonder are Lost, but Maybe Flynn is

by Adapted_Batteries



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Ezekiel's been tracking Flynn, Flynn's been running obvs, Little bit of anxiety mentions at the beginning, M/M, not a full on attack though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-07 22:18:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13444575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adapted_Batteries/pseuds/Adapted_Batteries
Summary: Ezekiel overhears Jenkins and Eve talking about Flynn, and decides to keep tabs on him. When Flynn doesn’t move from some small town in northern New York, Ezekiel decides to go see what’s up.Set right at the end of “And the Graves of Time.”





	Not All Who Wonder are Lost, but Maybe Flynn is

Ezekiel heard Eve yelling for Flynn in the main room from the kitchen...where he may or may not have been baking. He waited for Flynn to answer her, or to hear the ever present footfalls of him running at his name being called, but there was silence. _Well that’s weird_ , Ezekiel thought. Some flicker of anxiety sparked in the back of his neck, but he ignored it, mostly.

He still found himself making his way to the main room, curious of why it went quiet. That was what he heard Jenkins talking in his low, serious voice. Ezekiel stopped before he rounded the corner, close enough he could hear, but hidden enough they wouldn’t know he was listening.

“...took all of his things, left this. I have a feeling that he’s gone to look for something he couldn’t find here,” Jenkins said.

There was a pause, and he heard Eve sigh like she was unsettled. “What does this mean?”

Jenkins was quicker to respond. “I believe it means Mr. Carsen has resigned from the Library...and that he will not be coming back.”

Ezekiel sucked in a breath, forgetting to be quiet as the flicker of anxiety flared in his chest. He got himself back to the kitchen were he could hide his noisy breaths. Flynn was gone. Eve was no doubt upset, Jenkins seemed somber, and Ezekiel was freaking out. His knuckles were white as he gripped the counter edge to keep himself standing, eyes focused on the lemon muffin batter sitting in the bowl in front of him, waiting for poppy seeds to be added. 

Why would he run? No, he knew why. He was witness to the building breakdown since they first saw Nicole in the creepy secret dungeon. Ezekiel barely knew her, only what he read about her to know about Flynn (he knew a fair amount about everyone, if there were records he could access anyway). It still freaked him out to know she’d been locked up for a hundred years, he could only imagine how much it screwed up Flynn. And then everyone was taking sides and yelling, no one considering any facts other than what they wanted to believe. If it wasn’t such a dire situation, he would have made a joke about him being the logical one for once.

Then there was that letter Darrington left Flynn (of course he read it; he who leaves stuff laying around gets their things read by Ezekiel Jones). He adamantly disagreed with Dare’s opinion, and when he got to the end of the letter, he felt a pang in his chest. Ezekiel was glad he had no heroes (besides Baird, but he wasn’t ever gonna tell her that), because that meant there wasn’t anyone who earned his respect and then could use that to guilt him into doing what Dare attempted to do to Flynn. Maybe Dare succeeded...though in a way he didn’t realize.

Ezekiel forced himself to finish baking, promising himself he could consult his many resources to see where Flynn went. He kept telling himself it was just going to be like before. Flynn would be back, eventually. He just needed to do what Jenkins said, find whatever he was looking for. The Librarian certainly deserved a break from all the emotional turmoil he just went through.

For his own assurance, Ezekiel kept an eye on him while he ran. It wasn’t hard considering Flynn kept his phone on and didn’t disable the GPS. Either he was too messed up to remember to do it, or he wanted to be found. Ezekiel leaned towards the latter, but unfortunately for Flynn, he was the only one looking.

Like the paranoid person he was, Ezekiel was also occasionally checking Baird’s laptop...he set up a remote connection after her England stunt with Noone (he knew he could trust Baird, but it reminded him too much of her cohorting with D.O.S.A. when they were dealing with Apep). She wasn’t using any D.O.S.A. connections to find Flynn anyway, and nothing in her history suggested she was even thinking about going to look. 

He was sure Baird had her reasons for giving him space, but he didn’t think she realized what it was like to not have anything else to go to. Stone and Cassandra had some magical normal lives they wanted to fall back on, both of which they realized they couldn’t quite settle for compared to the Library anyway, but he didn’t have that. The Library gave him propose, a job, something...and someones...to settle him. Flynn was the same, an aimless academic until the Library found him. The Library enabled Flynn to reach past what the academic world could give him, and it did the same for Ezekiel, _even if anonymous philanthropist thief was a pretty noble profession_ , he thought.

So he watched as Flynn flitted from location to location, all over Europe, South America, Asia, only staying a few days at a time before moving to the next. That is, until the tracker stopped on a little town in northern New York, and didn’t move for a week. Ezekiel thought maybe Flynn finally ditched his phone, or lost it, but after the second week, he decided to check his other resources. He didn’t even have to dig. Flynn’s name popped up from the local library’s website as a librarian, and again from the local university website as a guest lecturer.

“No way,” Ezekiel said aloud, which was fine because he was at home. After some still not very hard digging through locals’ social medias, Flynn was...settling? Making a life for himself in this town, at least that’s how it looked. It would’ve stung less if Cassandra hadn’t just attempted to do that in Havenport.

He glanced to his phone, wondering if he should tell the others, or at least Eve, but decided against it. Flynn wasn’t ready to face her at least, probably not the others either. But he sure as hell wasn’t expecting Ezekiel to confront him. Before he even thought about how he was going to make up an excuse to leave, he was up out of his bed.

The sun was just peeking over the mountains east of Portland when Ezekiel stepped foot out of his apartment. No one would be at the Annex, not even Jenkins probably, with his now unfortunate need for sleep. He spent his commute thinking up what he was going to leave as a note; he was not about to just up and disappear like Flynn. He settled on concise and hopefully not concerning, not that he could really predict how they would react anymore when it came to things like this. If anything, they’d probably think he was having his turn at the whole “what if I wasn’t a Librarian anymore” thing that Stone and Cassandra needed to do. Not that he actually needed that. The Library would have to physically kick him out if it didn’t want him there.

As predicted, the Library was wonderfully empty, of people anyway. He found Jenkins’s notepad on his desk and scribbled out his message. “Had to run an errand, will be back soon,” it said, then he signed his name at the bottom. To make sure they got he was coming back, he decided to underline the “will be back soon” bit twice. If they had doubts after that, it was on them.

It took him a minute to connect the back door, and no time at all to travel across the country. It was seven something in the morning in Portland, but a busy 10 in the morning in New England, or as busy as small towns get anyway. He figured his best bet was to find Flynn at the library, or find someone who could point him in the right direction. He stumbled out the rear door of some building, depositing him in a sort of back alley right next to the library. 

The short fifty foot walk to the entrance gave him little time to think. Ezekiel made his way inside, completely without a plan of what he was going to say when he saw Flynn. At least Flynn was just as thoroughly unprepared. The Librarian was looking down at something on the desk, writing on a notepad next to it. 

“Good morning! What can I-” Flynn cut off when he looked up to see who walked in. “Ezekiel?”

Ezekiel was prepared to be snappy, rile up Flynn for the sake of all the pain he caused them, but that all drained out when he saw how content Flynn looked. “You’re...really doing this?”

Flynn’s cheerful demeanor started to dim rapidly. “For now, yes. Why are you here?” He started stacking books onto a cart when Ezekiel didn’t respond, ready to shelve them. “Did Colonel Baird send you?” He started pushing the cart out into the main area, heading down a line of bookcases. Ezekiel followed him. “Well you can tell her I’m not ready to come back. I don’t know when, I just need time.”

Finally Ezekiel’s voice returned to him. “I came on my own...Colonel Baird, none of them know I’ve gone.”

That got Flynn to stop in his tracks, but he didn’t look at Ezekiel. “So I ask again, why are you here?”

Ezekiel leaned against the edge of the bookcase next to Flynn, letting his head fall back against the metal. “I don’t even know. I just...everyone else figured out their existential crisis about being a Librarian, so it was time you wrapped up yours.” 

That got Flynn to look at him. “That’s what you do when I’m gone?”

“That’s what we do when Darrington Dare says some stupid shit and then you go ahead and effectively resign,” Ezekiel retorted. Now that anger was back. “I don’t care if he was your idol. He was wrong. We’ve all realized that. When will you?”

“If you’re just going to bark at me, you can leave. I won’t have you disturbing the patrons,” Flynn said, scanning the cart before selecting a book and shelving it. 

“I’m not leaving you like this,” Ezekiel responded, straining to keep the anger and desperation out of his voice.

Flynn scooted the cart down a little ways and shelved another book, then looked down at the cart again. Eventually he sighed and looked up at Ezekiel. “I get off at six. We can talk then. For now, I have a job to do.”

Relief washed through Ezekiel, enough to make him feel confident enough to make a joke. He leaned against the shelf with one arm, facing Flynn in a somewhat suggestive manner. “Don’t go skipping town before our date now,” he smirked. He didn’t expect Flynn to get so flustered, but was pleasantly surprised.

“I uh, I won’t, um, promise, I mean I won’t leave, I promise,” Flynn stammered, awkwardly shelving a book that Ezekiel noticed didn’t belong in this section. 

Ezekiel grabbed the wrongly shelved book, getting a bit in Flynn’s space due to the placement of the cart in front of the shelf, and put it back on the cart, handing Flynn the book he meant to grab. “I better give you some space, no sense on you disappointing your boss with books in the wrong places.”

“I am completely capable of shelving books, Jones,” Flynn replied, shelving the right book. 

“Uh-huh.” Ezekiel smiled at him, even if Flynn was clearly not looking at him, then left him to shelving the books.

Ezekiel had two choices: go back to the Annex, then somehow slip out at 3pm, or just stay in Canton. He wasn't too keen to be confronted, so he occupied himself the best he could in the little college town. 

He found his way to the campus since it was less than a quarter mile away from the library. Classes had just let out; the walkways and paths were busy with students. He thought about pick-pocketing (and returning) for practice, but it couldn’t bring himself to do much more than wander around and think about how he was going to bring Flynn back. There was no failing. He had to bring Flynn back. That would, he hoped, fix everything. 

Several long hours later, the bell on campus rung for 6pm. He wasn’t on campus anymore; he’d spent the past hour loitering in the park across from the library, unable to really appreciate the nice sunset in the sky. A few minutes after the hour, Flynn stepped out the main entrance, almost right into Ezekiel who’d been eagerly waiting next to the door since he heard the bell.

“Oh, hi. So uh, there’s a pub a little down the road. Good food, good beer,” Flynn said, pulling his coat around himself even though it wasn’t that cold. 

“Lead the way,” Ezekiel replied, motioning with his hand for Flynn to start walking.  
The pub was quaint. Homey, old, not exactly Ezekiel’s cup of tea, but if it made Flynn comfortable, he was all for it. The beer was alright, some pretty strong local stuff, and the food better than the sandwich he ate for lunch at least. 

Ezekiel decided they could make some small talk while they ate, before he jumped in to the heavy stuff. “So why’d you stop here, this town?”

“My grandmother lived here when I was a kid. She was a secretary in the English department. It was the first college campus I visited, and I ended up coming here for one of my Ph.D.’s,” Flynn explained. 

“It’s...quaint,” Ezekiel said, not really sure how to respond.

“It’s no big city, but it brings back fond memories,” Flynn said.

They couldn’t beat around the bush forever; Ezekiel decided it was time to get to it. “So,” Ezekiel started, leaning forward on the table, “why precisely did you run?” Flynn sunk back into the booth like he could be absorbed into it. “And I want the truth. Don’t make up some story.”

Flynn narrowed his eyes at Ezekiel. “You...want me to tell the truth? Since when have you ever done that?”

“I don’t lie,” Ezekiel retorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You do,” Flynn snapped. Ezekiel flinched at the sudden anger. Flynn took a breath, but wasn’t done. “I’m talking about the lying by omission you’ve been doing.”

Ezekiel glanced out the window. “I came here to get you sorted.”

“I’m not baring my soul for free,” Flynn replied, downing the rest of his current beer. Ezekiel still wasn’t looking at him, but Flynn must have waved down someone to bring them more because a server came by with two fresh glasses a few moments later.

“Fine. If you tell me why you ran this time, I'll...what do you want to know?” Ezekiel asked.

Flynn looked into the pub, thinking, then looked back to Ezekiel. “Tell me why you never told us you remembered the video game loop.”

_Of course._ Ezekiel let his head fall back against the booth. “Fine.” After a moment, his gaze returned to Flynn, waiting on him to start talking.

Flynn sipped his drink, and then took a larger gulp seconds later. “I figured it would be fairly obvious why I left,” he said, running his fingers up and down the condensation on the glass. 

“You really think there should only be one Librarian?” Ezekiel asked, hoping he wasn't sold out on Dare’s demand.

Flynn looked at him like he was slow. “What? No. I'll admit it gave a good excuse to take a break, but no. The Library gave all of you letters, even after it made the mistake with the brothers centuries ago. I think the Library is smarter than repeating its mistakes.”

Ezekiel raised his eyebrows. “Okay...so what was it then?”

After a few moments of opening and closing his mouth, Flynn spoke. “I spent thirteen years thinking I killed my first guardian accidentally. And then I learn she’s was immortal, was doing some artifact gathering of some sort, did something that was bad enough to get locked up by the Librarian at the time, and for Jenkins to think it was the right thing to do.” Flynn paused, letting his head fall back like Ezekiel’s earlier, a bitter chuckle escaping his lips as he stared at the ceiling. “And then she left again, doing who knows what, and suddenly she was back, and I…” Flynn paused again, this time like he was about to break down, “I saw her die again, or well, get stabbed by something that could kill immortals anyway. I’m sure you understand I wasn’t exactly having the best month or so.”

“You...killed her?” Ezekiel asked, quite confused look on his face. “I know there was the malfunction with the time machine, but how did you...oh.”

Flynn nodded. “She wasn't meant to be near it, nor was it meant to explode. I was...inexperienced. In theory it was a good idea.”

Ezekiel let out a low whistle. “Yeah, okay. I can see why you needed a break. But why settle down?”

“Because I hadn't done that yet. It seemed like the right thing to do,” Flynn said with a shrug. “I wasn't settled before the Library, and, well, you know being with the Library, the only settling is tethering. I just...I didn't know if I wanted to do that anymore. Why not retire? Darrington did, why couldn't I?”

“Do you want to retire?” Ezekiel waited a moment before continuing. “You know doing this means you'd be straining Colonel Baird. She's committed, well that I know of anyway.”

Flynn looked at Ezekiel like he either knew that and refused to keep thinking about it, or had been pleasantly ignoring it to begin with. “I know. And that's part of why I took an indefinite leave of absence.”

Ezekiel raised an eyebrow. “You don't want to be with Colonel Baird?”

Flynn startled a bit. “What? No...what concerned me was that she was committed, even after all that happened, like she hadn’t wondered what life could be like outside the Library.”

“So her wanting to make the Library a good place concerns you?”

“I don't know how much control we have of the Library!” Flynn spat, more aggressive than the conversation warranted. He caught himself, taking a deep breath before explaining. “What if...just because we become immortal doesn't mean we make it through fine. The Library...ergo Judson and Charlene, thought it fine to leave the pages ripped out from the book of Librarians and keep a Guardian locked up. What if that happens to us? We lose our humanity?”

“So they did some sketchy things. What makes you think you'll do that, knowing about it?” Ezekiel retorted. 

“There's always a risk…” Flynn tapered off.

“Look. If there's anything I've learned since I first met you, it's that you always try to do the right thing,” Ezekiel started. Then, in a sudden need to really hammer the point home, he leaned over the table and tapped Flynn’s sternum with his hand, saying, “and that's in here. It's not going to go away. It's you.” Something about having Flynn look up at him with a face that was equal parts hopeful and flattered made Ezekiel’s chest flutter. Maybe it was the beer messing with his head (that’s what he told himself anyway), but Ezekiel sat back down before he let himself do anything stupid.

Like the awkward person he was, Flynn fiddled with a leftover fry on his plate, avoiding looking at Ezekiel. “Enough about me. You need to hold up your end of the bargain now,” Flynn said.

Ezekiel chuckled at Flynn being a dork. “Alright, though I wasn’t done with you,” Ezekiel replied, earning a curious look from Flynn. “I actually didn’t remember for a while. If Prospero hadn’t spelled us to Sicily, I don’t think I would’ve ever remembered actually.”

Flynn looked like he was starting to try to figure out how that worked. “I suppose breaking that magic would’ve removed the magical memories, which could have very well removed any other blocks left over from the magic-induced loops…”

“Who knows how it actually happened, the important bit is that it did,” Ezekiel interjected, getting Flynn back on track. “Sometime soon after that I started having the nightmares. Not a lot, but when they happened it was like I was back there. I guess being in similar combat situations triggers it, but that’s it really.”

“So the super-collider facility…” Flynn started, but didn’t seem to know what he wanted to say next.

Ezekiel sighed. “Yeah...that wasn’t great.” 

“That was when I started forming my suspicions,” Flynn admitted. “You were...suddenly very self-sacrificing, like we mattered more than you, and you were...okay with dying if that’s what it took.” He paused for a moment, making streaks in the condensation again on a new glass. “I talked about it with Eve, she said that was how you acted when you completed the level. Reminded her of soldiers in combat.”

Having Flynn recount his view made Ezekiel feel exposed, and he didn’t really like that feeling. “I did what I thought needed to be done, what’s wrong with that?”

Flynn gave him a sad look. “You didn’t have to be so suicidal about it. My theory...I didn’t know for sure you’d make it through, but you went anyway. The Ezekiel I knew before would've at least hesitated.”

Ezekiel folded his arms. “So when were you going to tell me about this? If you were so concerned…”

Flynn shifted around in his seat a bit. “I was...when I decided it was a good time. Besides the super-collider facility, I only heard how you were acting from the others. Tracking the magical storm Stone and Cassandra were caught in, but not being upfront about it, and the vampire hunter overkill, well I wasn’t there to witness those. I didn’t feel like I had enough data to make a case.”

“Okay, I’m more protective. Isn’t that a good thing?” Ezekiel asked.

“You’re more aggressive, impulsive. That’s what I’ve seen. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it causes issues. We’re...I’m concerned,” Flynn answered, going back to avoiding Ezekiel’s gaze.

“Says the one who decided he didn’t need to do his job anymore and left,” Ezekiel spat, making Flynn flinch. He didn’t want to be so mean, but he couldn’t help it.

“I did what I thought I needed to do to help me be at my best. I wasn’t going to be much help to you all or the Library if I had no clue what was going on in my head,” Flynn said, a lot calmer than Ezekiel felt. Flynn was clearly trying not to argue with him, but Ezekiel’s brain was trying its best to ignore that. “Maybe I didn’t go about it in the best way. I made a mistake. But I did try.”

Ezekiel folded his arms even tighter to keep himself constrained. “So am I supposed to try to will my nightmares away? Is that how it works?”

Flynn sighed and shook his head like a teacher trying to get through to a troubling student. “No. I’m saying that I messed up by not talking to anyone about what I was thinking, in regards to my stance on the Library.” He waited for Ezekiel to respond, but the ex-thief sat silently, so he continued, “in your case, not telling anyone was your mistake. With something like PTSD, you can’t get better alone.”

“What, are you going to be my shrink now?” Ezekiel scoffed. He visibly winced as soon as he said it. “Sorry, I’m just...not good with talking in complete truth. I, uh, I need something stronger than this,” he said with a vague gesture to his half empty glass. Without another word, Ezekiel slipped out of the booth and made his way to the bar. 

After a rum-based shooter, Ezekiel got some alright whiskey, a better quality than he would’ve got if he was trying to get drunk, and returned to the booth with two glasses in hand. Flynn raised an eyebrow but took the glass, taking a sip. 

“Why did you feel the need to hide?” Flynn asked after he sat his glass down on the table.

Ezekiel shrugged and took a drink, grounding himself with the burn down his throat. “Why didn’t you talk to anyone?” he countered.

Flynn looked mildly disappointed with him, but persevered by being a good example. “I tried to not think about it in the first place, focus on the task at hand. I let it all build up, and then the only option to me seemed to be to run. In hindsight, I know it wasn’t, but I can’t change what I did.”

Once he downed the rest of his whiskey, Ezekiel finally responded. “I just...I didn’t want to be seen as messed up. I didn’t want to give anyone a reason to want me gone, especially if everyone thought I wasn’t fit to be a Librarian.” 

That sad look made its way back onto Flynn’s face. “We wouldn’t kick you out for being affected by a mission. We would want you to be back at your best.”

Ezekiel opened his mouth and closed it, not unlike Flynn did earlier when they first started talking about everything. “Well I know that now. But I didn’t then, and the longer I didn’t talk about it, the easier it was to just never bring it up,” Ezekiel said. He ran his finger around the rim of his empty glass, internally debating how to get Flynn back to considering returning to the Library. After a few moments, the alcohol in his system told him to be blunt. “So what are you going to do?” 

It took Flynn a moment to realize Ezekiel switched subjects on him. “I...well, I’m not going to make a decision right now. I don’t want to be hasty like I was before.”

Though he wanted to argue with him on it, Ezekiel let it drop. “Fair enough.”

Flynn glanced out the window, which revealed night had completely arrived. “I need to get heading out, I do have work tomorrow,” Flynn said, but didn’t make any move to actually leave. “I will think about it, tomorrow, when I’ve got a clearer head.” He waited to see if Ezekiel had anything to say, but Ezekiel was busy trying to figure out if he actually wanted to go back, and if there was more he could do to convince Flynn to come back. At Ezekiel’s silence, Flynn slid out of the booth, laying some bills down on the table on top of the receipt that the server had left a while ago. 

“Wait,” Ezekiel found himself saying as he slid out of the booth as well. “Uh, can I, I don’t want to go back to them yet,” he stammered, embarrassed that he was being so awkward.

It took a moment, but Flynn gathered what Ezekiel was asking. “I have a couch. It’s not great, but it’s yours for the night.”

Ezekiel physically relaxed. “Thanks.” Belatedly he glanced at the money on the table. “I can pay for my half,” he started, fishing out his wallet from his pants.

Flynn shook his head. “I got it. Plus, this was a date…”

Ezekiel’s mouth opened in shock that Flynn actually said that, then he remembered he technically was the one who made it a date. “That means I should be the one covering the bill, since I’m the one who made it a date.”

“I didn’t take Ezekiel Jones for one who stuck to social norms,” Flynn said with a smirk, but he didn’t make a move to take his money off the table; he instead went to put his coat on.

“Hey, some things still work just fine, but if you wanna pay, go for it. I would’ve gotten more to drink if I knew that,” Ezekiel said, putting his wallet back in his pocket. 

“Well I wouldn’t want you to be thirsty now. One for the road?” Flynn asked as he finished putting on his coat.

Ezekiel found himself smiling. “Sure.” He let Flynn lead him to the bar, more surprised that Flynn was going with whatever this flirting was than anything.

“What was that thing you got before you came back with the whiskeys?” Flynn asked as they arrived at the bar.

“Oh, that was what the bartender called a ‘pirate’s booty,’” Ezekiel replied. 

The bartender came up to them. “What can I get you, gentlemen?”

“Two, uh, pirate’s booties, please,” Flynn asked, handing over some cash. 

“Coming right up,” the bartender replied, taking the cash over to the register. The process of making the shots and drinking them took all of two minutes, then they were out of the pub.

With the sun down, the cold flowed through the streets. Ezekiel wished he’d brought a warmer jacket, but shoving his hands as far into his pockets as they’d go would have to do. 

Flynn glanced over at him. “It’s not far,” Flynn said, motioning in the direction of his home.

“Easy for you to say in that warm coat of yours,” Ezekiel mumbled, walking off in the direction Flynn had pointed. 

It really wasn’t that far from the pub. Only after a few minutes walking, Flynn stopped him from walking past by grabbing his arm. “This is it.” It looked to be an apartment above someone’s garage. Flynn unlocked the door, which opened to stairs. Ezekiel made his way up, only tripping once at the top because when he looked down, he saw the top landing was a tad taller than the rest of the stair heights. Flynn was right behind him. “Yeah, that caught me a few times.”

The apartment was a studio, filled with a bunch of mismatched furniture that looked like someone had fun raiding all the garage sales. “Your place is...something,” Ezekiel said, letting himself take a seat on the floral print couch he presumed was going to be his bed tonight.

“It works for what I need,” Flynn replied, plopping himself down next to Ezekiel. “I didn’t think...I hoped it wouldn’t be a permanent situation.”

Ezekiel wondered if Flynn’s aim was off from the drinks, because the couch was not small enough that he had to sit right next to him. Of course he got some semblance of an answer when Flynn leaned on his shoulder and started crying. Ezekiel had no clue what to do, but at least his body had the idea of getting his arm unpinned from between them so he could pull Flynn into a somewhat more comfortable position.

“I just...I, wish things could go back, to the way they were before,” Flynn whispered, pausing to get some sort of control over his breathing. “I wish the cornerstones weren’t found, and everything went fine, and in a few weeks I’d be made immortal with the, the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”

“Don’t we all,” Ezekiel said with a sigh. He found himself stroking the side of Flynn’s head, but didn’t stop as Flynn seemed to calm down a bit. “But out of all of us, you should know that being a Librarian isn’t easy. There’s some tough choices, and we don’t know which one is right sometimes. But that doesn’t mean we quit.”

Flynn sat up to look Ezekiel in the eye. “But what if one of the results of my choice means I’m made immortal and I regret it?”

“Just because you can’t predict the outcome doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do what you think is right,” Ezekiel countered. He had to look off into the room; he couldn’t handle seeing Flynn with that much emotion on his face. “I can’t tell you what choice to make, but I can tell you that running away is not the one you really want to make. Besides,” he looked back to Flynn with a smirk, “if you don’t come back, that means one of us has to tether with Colonel Baird...do you really want me to be immortal?”

The tension in Ezekiel’s chest eased a bit when Flynn laughed. “You assume that Stone wouldn’t beat you to it?”

Ezekiel shook his head, chuckling. “Actually, we’d let Colonel Baird pick, and she’d definitely choose Cassandra.”

Flynn laughed again. “She would.” 

A prickle of concern went down Ezekiel’s neck when the happy expression faded from Flynn’s face. Immediately he started thinking of what he could say to bring it back, but Flynn didn’t give him a chance to try anything when he leaned forward and kissed him. 

It took a minute for Ezekiel’s brain to catch up. Sure, he wanted this, but he didn’t think it’d actually happen. Plus, Flynn had to be at least very tipsy, if not drunk, and Ezekiel knew he himself was at least a bit drunk. As soon as Flynn started getting a little bit more aggressive, he pushed him away little bit, but not enough to make him start freaking out.

“Are you sure you want this?” Ezekiel asked.

Flynn looked at him very seriously. “Yes.” Then his expression faltered as a bit of doubt creeped in. “Maybe...I don’t know.” He stood up, a little off balance. “I think I need sleep.”

Though he thought he’d be disappointed, Ezekiel just felt relieved that Flynn wasn’t about to do something he may not have actually wanted. “Alright. Before you do that, can I have a blanket and stuff?” Ezekiel asked. 

“Actually, uh,” Flynn swallowed awkwardly, “would you uh, sleep with me? I mean in the same bed, I just, there’s a lot going on in my head and, uh, I don’t want to be alone.”

“Can’t promise that cuddling will make your problems go away, mate.” Ezekiel couldn’t help smiling when Flynn started blushing.

“No, I know, I mean you don’t have to-” Flynn stammered, but Ezekiel cut him off.   
“I’m just teasing. Course I will.”

Ezekiel didn’t think Flynn would immediately get into the bed ten feet from the couch, nor did he think that he was that tired, but as soon as they got comfortable, both of them were out like a light.

 

It wasn’t the first time Ezekiel woke up in his clothes from yesterday. It was the first time he woke up in bed with his sort of coworker (did it count if he technically resigned?). An alarm clock was going off on the little bedside table next to him, so he turned over, away from where Flynn had snuggled into his chest, to make it stop. The motion woke Flynn, who then immediately sat up, and looked like he regretted the fast motion.

“Morning, Sunshine,” Ezekiel said around a yawn. 

Flynn glanced at him, confused. “What are you...oh yeah.” He sat for a moment longer, then got up and started coffee in the little kitchen in the corner of the room opposite the bed. Neither of them spoke until there was coffee in mugs ready to drink. 

“You aren’t even a little hungover?” Flynn asked, looking a bit worse for wear, though the coffee was helping a little.

“Nah,” Ezekiel said with a shrug. “Takes more than a few drinks to get me that wasted.” Flynn nodded in acknowledgement, then took a sip like he needed to occupy his mouth instead of say what he was thinking. Ezekiel decided he could do the talking. “So about last night, I don’t regret it, but I’m fine with keeping it between us if that’s what you want.”

“I was drunk…” Flynn tapered off. “Not that I, uh, regret it, but, well, I have a lot to think about, and I don’t think that would help.”

That disappointment Ezekiel thought he would feel last night finally arrived, but he knew that it wasn’t going to actually work. “That’s fine. Are you...going to come back?”

Flynn sighed, looking out the window. “I...I don’t know, yet. Like I said, I have a lot to think about.” He looked back to Ezekiel. “But what you said last night, all of it, don’t think it hasn’t made a difference.”

“Good.” Ezekiel downed the rest of his coffee, even if it was a bit too hot to be doing that, then stood up. “Would you like me to pass along any messages?”

After a few moments thinking, Flynn said, “Tell Eve that I love her, and uh, that I know she’ll do the right thing.”

Ezekiel really didn’t like the crypticness of that last bit. “Okay.” He started walking towards the stairs, but stopped and turned back to Flynn. “I hope you’ll do the right thing too, Flynn.”

Flynn didn’t say anything back, but he did nod. Ezekiel figured that was a good of place as any to leave that conversation, so he went down the stairs and let himself out. He called up the backdoor (which thankfully he had an app for so he didn’t have to call Jenkins at 5am pacific time), and decided he had time to head home for a shower and some breakfast before he was met with the barrage of questions in a few hours.

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this before I watched “And a Town Called Feud” so I didn’t know everyone was gonna end up still divided. This fic is happening in a magical place where that didn’t happen. I figure it wouldn’t be out of place for Flynn to attempt at settling with Cassandra and Stone trying it out to different degrees, and he definitely would be a professor or something.
> 
> Recognize Ezekiel’s reason for not telling anyone about remembering the video game loop? That’s cuz I totally took it from my other fic, “Whatever you Need” because I couldn’t think of another reason Ezekiel wouldn’t tell them.
> 
> Also I’ve never been to a bar for drinks (I’m not 21 yet) so I have no clue how paying for drinks works, and only what little experience I’ve had with drunk people on how many drinks it takes. I figured they had enough to be reasonably tipsy, and Flynn probably has less of a tolerance than Ezekiel.


End file.
